Jhm. 

t3i 


Duke  University  Libraries 

Veto  message. 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #91 


\^ETO    MESS  AG 


To  the  Home  of  Representatives 

of  the  Confederate  Stales  of  Anitrica  : 

ilaving  carefully  considered  the  act  entitled  ••An  net  cu  provide  for 
woun(ie<i  and  disabled  officers,  soldiers,  and  seamen,  t^  asylum  to  be 
called  ''  The  Veteran  Soldiers'  Hume,"  I  feej  constrained  to  return  it, 
with  my  objections,  to  the  House  of  Ileprcsentativcs,  in  which  it 
originated.  The  object  of  the  act  appeals  most  strongly  to  the  sym- 
pathies of  all ;  but  in  providing  the  means  for  effectuating  that  ob- 
ject, it  enacts  provisions  which,  in  my  jtidg'.nent,  are  unwarranted  by 
the  Constitution.  Without  alhrming  that  the  act  creates  a  perfect 
corporation,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  confers  upo-i  the  board  of 
managers  of  the  institution  which  it  is  intended  to  found,  corporate 
powers  and  franchises  of  a  well  definr-d  character,  which  constitute 
them  what  is  known  as  a  quasi  corporation  They  are  toj)rganizo 
themselves  into  a  board,  by  the  election  of  a  president,,  trr^asurer,  and 
other  necessary  officers;  are  to  continue  in  office  until  t'leir  successors 
are  appointed — thus  providing  for  a  continual  succession  ;  and  they 
are  to  be  subject  to  the  general  approval  and  direction  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  War — thus  constituting  the  Secretary  a  Visitor,  a  usual  inci- 
dent of  eleemosynary  corporations.  They  have  power  to  make  by- 
laws, or,  as  the  act  expresses  it,  the  *' power  to  make  all  requisite  rules 
and  regulations"  for  the  government  of  the  institution  ;  and  th'^yare 
authorized  to  receive  endowments  from  individuals  and  from  the  States. 
These  are  all  ordinary  and  well  known  corporate  franchises.  But  if 
any  doubt  could  exist  as  to  whether  they  are  granted  to  the  board  as 
a  corporation,  or  quasi  corporation,  or  only  entrusted  to  them  as  in- 
dividual trustees,  that  doubt  is  removed  by  the  second  section  of  the 
act.  That  section  provides  that  the  treasurer  shall  give  bond  with 
security  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  duties,  which  bond  shall  be 
payable  to  the  said  board  of  managers  and  their  successors  in  office, 
and  may  by  them  be  put  in  suit  in  any  State  or  Confederate  court 
having  jurisdiction.  It  cannot  be  understood  that  this  bond  is  to  be 
taken  to,  and  sued  upon,  by  the  board  of  managers,  in  their  individual 
capacity,  as  natural  persons.     This  is  evident  from  two  considerations : 

1st.  Such  a  power  would  be  supererogatory  and  useless,  since,  as 
natural  persons,  they  already  had,  by  the  common  law,  ample  right  to 
mako  any  contract  and  take  any  bond  or  other  security,  not  contra- 
vening the  policy  of  the  law. 

2d.  The  right  of  action  on  a  bond  payable  to  the  managers,  as  in- 
dividuals, would,  in  the  courts  of  law,  remain  in  and  be  under  the 
control  of  the  managers  after  they  had  gone  out  of  office ;  and  in  case 
of  the  death  of  all  of  them,  would  belong  to  the  personal  representa- 
tive of  the  last  survivor ;  and  to  prevent  these  inconveniences,  it  is 


.1.  ^^- 

cxprosal}  ])ro vklcd  that  tkc  fjond  should  be  payable  tO;  and  be  sued  on 
hj,  *'  the  I'oard  of  managers  and  their  successors  in  office,"  which 
could  only  be  accomplished  by  constituting  them,  to  that  extent,  a 
corv>  oral  ion. 

1^'ruui  tlioso  considerations,  it  is  apparent^that  the  intent  of  the  act 
is  to  confer  corporate  powers  upon  the  board  of  managers;  and  that 
intent  is,  in  my  judgment,  beyond  the  powers  entrusted  to  Congress 
by  the  Constitution.  However  enlightened^iopinions  may  have  dif- 
fered under  the  old  Government,  the  whole  history  and  theory  of  the 
contest  in  vrhich  we^are  engaged,  and  the  express  recognition  in  our 
Constitution  oi*lhe  sovereignty  of  the  States,  preclude  all  idea  of  so 
widely  extending,  by  construction,  the  field  of  implied  pov»^ers.  That 
there  is  no  such  power  expressly  granted,  need  scarcely  be  remarked. 

But,  if  this  view  of  the  intent  and  operation  of  the  act  be  discarded 
as  incorrect,  then  it  can  be  susceptible  of  but  one  other  interpreta- 
tion. It  provides  for  the  support  and  comfort  of  soldiers  and  seamen 
disabled  in  the  public  service — a  class  in  all  countries  regarded  as  the 
peculiar  objects  of  governmental  benevolence.  The  institution  which 
it  founds  is  endowed,  in  pai't  at  least,  from  the  funds  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  real  estate  necessary  Ibr  the  purpose  of  this  act  is  to  be 
leased  or  purchased  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  under  the  approval  of 
the  President,  as  the  property  of  the  Government.  Officers  in  the 
service  and  pay  of  the  Government  are  to  be  assigned  for  duty  at  the 
asylum.  Its  whole  management  is  to  be  subject  to.  the  general  di- 
rection and  control  of  a  high  oflScer  of  the  Government — the  Secre- 
tary of  War.  And  the  board  of  managers  are  required  to  report  to 
the  Secretary,  to  be  communicated  to  Congress,  at  every  regular  ses- 
sion, a  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  institution.  It  is,  then,  a 
tjovernment  institution,  ard  its  officers  are  officers  of  the  Confederate 
States  ;  but  they  are  not  to  be  appointed  in  any  of  the  ways  by  which 
alone  such  appointments  can  be  constitutionally  made — neither  by  the 
President,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  nor  by  the 
President  alone,  nor  by  the  courts  of  law,  nor  by  the  head  of  a  de- 
partment. The  managers  are  to  be  appointed  by  the  Governors  of  the 
several  States,  and  they  in  turn  are  to  appoint  their  president  and 
treasurer,  and  fix  their  salaries. 

Those  two  are,  in  my  judgment,  the  only  interpretations  of  which 
the  act  is  susceptible  ;  and,  under  either  view,  its  provisions  are  vio- 
lative of  the  Constitution. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

BkJmiond^  Va.,  February  11,  18G4. 


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